Math Program for Middle School - Editorial

update: The official LMSD summary is up

Last Wednesday night Nancy Acconciamessa, math specialist, presented the new math program (College Placement Math – CPM) to middle school parents. There were about 80 parents in the room and a number of math teachers. The material presented have been presented before, and covered on this website multiple times (See March 8 Curriculum meeting, March 25 Curriculum meeting, April 12 Education meeting, April 19 Business meeting). They are also on the district website (search for math sequence on www.lmsd.org)

A few parents were there to hear about the CPM program and learn about the student testing for placement in the various programs.

A larger number of parents at the meeting that were upset because their children are not responding well to the program. These parents were told that these were likely growing pains, and to give the program more of a chance.

Other parents spent time questioning the process of adopting CPM. They wanted to know what was wrong with the old method, how this method was chosen, etc. The only answer that was given to these questions was that this is a program that teaches math understanding, and is well aligned to the PA state standards. Parents wanted evident that the program works. They wanted to be convinced that CPM is a good choice. But this just wasn’t going to happen.

I am not a fan of the entire CPM program. BUT, I think we need to keep it in perspective. The curriculum is the curriculum. It is not set by CPM, or by any other program. It is set by the state and the LMSD. CPM is a tool kit for teaching the curriculum.

I don’t like the entire tool kit, but it is the kit we bought. So how do we make this the best math program for LMSD? I think we parents need to do the following:

• Talk to your kids. Figure out what they like and don’t like and communicate that back to the teachers. The kids don’t have to know your feelings about the program, but we need to communicate their perceptions back to the teachers.

• Encourage the teachers and the district to supplement the CPM materials and program in response to student needs.

• Make very, very sure that the district monitors results to ensure this program is working. We need to hold them to the promise that this is the best program for our kids. We should demand a quantitative measure of results.

But most importantly, we need to stay on top of all curriculum changes. This change to CPM has been in the works for YEARS. There were department level discussions, board discussion, open meetings, etc. Only a couple of parents attended the meetings and asked for data supporting the program. This year we put new science materials in the elementary schools with no data presented on the effectiveness of the materials. We put in a new writing program with a similar lack of evidence. This is the accepted process folks, and we are just letting it go on.

The current curriculum changes being implemented are Business/Tech & Info Sciences, Literacy, Social Studies, Family/Consumer Science, Health/PE, Art. Programs being developed NOW are are ESL, Guidence, World Languages, Gifted.

The curriculum changes are scheduled far in advance. It is very easy to see what is coming up, and to put in your two cents worth.

I realize this submission is an editorial, not a report. It represents my thoughts and spelling/grammar errors, not those of other OpenLM contributors. Feedback is always welcome.

Maureen